Packing and ejecting means for a refuse truck

ABSTRACT

A refuse truck having a loading compartment and a rearwardly located storage body, the storage body having an openable rear door. The floors of said body and said compartment lie in the same plane and the sidewalls of both in the same vertical planes. The truck has a loading mechanism for emptying refuse containers into the loading compartment. There is a ram and hydraulic means for moving the ram from a position forward of the loading compartment and through the bottom of the loading compartment for packing refuse from the loading compartment into the storage body. The ram also may be moved along the bottom of the storage body for compacting refuse in the body when the rear door is closed and to the rear of the body for ejecting refuse from the body when the rear door is open. A rear wall of the loading compartment defines with the floor of the loading compartment an opening through which the ram moves. The top surface of the ram and a plurality of superposed sliding covers provide a bottom for the loading compartment when the ram is moved into and/or through the storage body. The ram and the covers have &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;lost-motion&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; connections so the covers are moved with the ram only when the ram moves rearwardly beyond the storage compartment.

United States Patent [1 1 Herpich Nov. 25, 1975 1 1 PACKING AND EJECTINGMEANS FOR A REFUSE TRUCK [75] Inventor: William A. Herpich, Galion, Ohio[73] Assignee: Peabody Galion Corporation,

Galion, Ohio [22] Filed: Sept. 20, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 507,817

Primary Examiner-Robert J. Spar Assistant ExaminerLawrence J. OreskyAttorney, Agent, or Firm-Henry K. Leonard [57] ABSTRACT A refuse truckhaving a loading compartment and a rearwardly located storage body, thestorage body having an openable rear door. The floors of said body andsaid compartment lie in the same plane and the sidewalls of both in thesame vertical planes. The truck has a loading mechanism for emptyingrefuse containers into the loading compartment. There is a ram andhydraulic means for moving the ram from a position forward of theloading compartment and through the bottom of the loading compartmentfor packing refuse from the loading compartment into the storage body.The ram also may be moved along the bottom of the storage body forcompacting refuse in the body when the rear door is closed and to therear of the body for ejecting refuse from the body when the rear door isopen. A rear wall of the loading compartment defines with the floor ofthe loading compart ment an opening through which the ram moves. The topsurface of the ram and a plurality of superposed sliding covers providea bottom for the loading compartment when the ram is moved into and/orthrough the storage body. The ram and the covers have lostmotionconnections so the covers are moved with the ram only when the ram movesrearwardly beyond the storage compartment.

4 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures Patent Nov. 25, 1975 Sheet 1 0f 4 FIG. I

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US. Patent Nov. 25, 1975 Sheet 4 45 %?5 I i W m P3 x 9 u Cy m FIG 9 5 as53 58 53 )3 T g/ k/ 57 PACKING AND EJECTING MEANS FOR A REFUSE TRUCKBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The instant invention relates to refusetrucks such as those utilized by municipalities and contract trashhaulers for picking up refuse from refuse containers located atresidences or commercial establishments and conveying the refuse sopicked up to a central disposal point such as a dump, incinerator, orthe like.

Many types of refuse trucks have been developed and may be roughlydivided into three general classes. There are rear loading refusevehicles which have receiving hoppers at their rear ends and means forpacking the refuse from the hoppers into the bodies. There are frontloaders which are provided with means for elevating and dumpingcontainers into the bodies. There are side loaders which have loadingcompartments or receiving bins accessible from the sides of the vehiclesinto which the containers are dumped and from which refuse is moved intothe bodies.

The instant invention is particularly directed toward packing andejecting means for a refuse truck which has a loading compartment and astorage body. The refuse is dumped into the loading compartment and thenis packed into the storage body of the truck by an hydraulicallyactuated ram which moves the refuse across the bottom of the loadingcompartment, through an opening in a wall that is common to the loadingcompartment and the storage body and into the storage body itself.

Again, refuse vehicles having loading compartments may be divided intotwo general classes. In the first of these, after a sufficient quantityof refuse has been moved from the loading compartment into the storagebody, so that the storage body is filled, the vehicle is driven to thedischarge location, the rear end of the body is opened and the body istilted to dump the refuse out of the opened rear end. In the secondclass, rather than elevating the body to dump it, an ejection platelocated interiorly of the storage body is actuated to move from thefront to the back of the storage body to force the refuse out of theopen rear end.

In the first of these types of vehicles just described it is necessaryto mount the storage body itself for tilting and to equip it withadequate means such as hydraulic cylinders to raise the front end of thebody. In the second type not only must a ram be actuated to pack refusefrom the loading compartment into the body, but the ejection plate mustalso be provided with power means for moving it along the length of thebody to force the refuse out of the open rear end.

It is the principle object of the instant invention to provide a refusevehicle or truck which has a single mechanism utilizable selectively forpacking refuse from a loading compartment into a storage body, forcompacting refuse in the body and for ejecting refuse from the storagebody.

It is yet another object of the instant invention to provide a refusetruck having a loading compartment into which refuse containers aredumped and a storage body, the floors of the compartment and body lyingin the same horizontal plane, and the side walls of both lying in thesame vertical planes and to provide in the truck an hydraulicallyacuated ram which is'useable in several manners. First, it isreciprocated through the bottom of the loading compartment for packingrefuse from the loading compartment into the storage body. Second, it ismoveable into the storage body for compacting refuse in the body. Third,after the door at the rear of the body has been opened at thedisposition point, it is moved all the way through the body in one ormore strokes to eject refuse from the body. Additionally, the ram hasassociated sliding covers which move along with the ram when it is movedrearwardly of the loading compartment to provide a temporary bottom forthe loading compartment and for the storage body in order to preventrefuse in either of those locations from falling down in the front ofthe ram.

A more limited object of the instant invention is to provide a packingand ejecting ram for a refuse truck having a loading compartment at itsfront and a storage body rearwardly thereof and which ram can bereciprocated in the bottom of the loading compartment for packing refuseinto the body, which can be actuated to compact the refuse in the bodyin order to reduce the voids in the refuse and then to eject the refusefrom the body after it is fully loaded. The ram is provided with aseries of superposed sliding covers normally stored at the front end ofthe truck, forwardly of the loading compartment. The covers havelost-motion interengaging means so that each is engaged in sequence bythe ram or by a lower cover in order to be drawn toward the rear of thebody when the ram moves rearward beyond the loading compartment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side view in elevationwith parts broken away of a refuse truck embodying the invention of thetype generally called a front loader and illustrating how refusecontainers may be dumped into a loading compartment and the refuse inthe loading compartment be packed into a storage body;

FIG. 2 is a simplified, fragmentary, vertical sectional view, showinghow the packing and ejecting ram is stored at the front part of thetruck forwardly of the bottom of the loading compartment;

FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 are all views similar to FIG. 2 but showing how thepacking and ejecting ram is first actuated to pack refuse from theloading compartment into the storage body, then to compact refusealready in the storage body and, finally, (FIG. 5 to eject refuse fromthe storage body;

FIG. 6 is a detailed view in elevation taken from the position indicatedby the line 6-6 of FIG. 2;

'FIG. 7 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along the line7--7 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is a side view in elevation of the packing and ejecting ram takenfrom the position indicated by the line 8-8 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a detailed view in side elevation showing the two slidingcovers employed with a ram according to the instant invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT being mounted upon a chassis(not shown) of a truck 22. The truck 22 in this illustration is equippedwith front loading mechanism, generally indicated by the referencenumber 23, of the type more fully disclosed in Clar U. S. Pat. No.3,140,787. Inasmuch as this particular mechanism does not constitute apart of the instant invention it will be briefly described as comprisinga pair of scissors-type lifting booms 24 pivotally connected to theupper front end of the truck body structure, and having containerengaging forks 25 which are adapted to engage a refuse container 26 bysequential energization of hydraulic cylinder means 27 mounted on top ofthe truck and a fork actuating cylinder 28. The container 26 is raisedabove a cab 29 of the truck 22, inverted and its contents dumped fromthe position shown in broken lines and indicated by the reference number26a, into the loading compartment 20.

The loading compartment 20 is located immediately rewardly of a frontstructure 30 of the truck 22 which contains, for examples, an hydraulicreservoir, pumps, valve fittings, etc. The compartment 20 is defined bya floor 31 which lies in the same horizontal plane as a floor 32 of thestorage body 21, by side walls 33 which lie in the same spaced, verticalplanes as side walls 34 of the storage body 21, by a front wall 35 andby a partition wall 36 which is common to the storage body 21, and formsa rear wall for the compartment 20 and a front wall for the storage body21.

In the illustrated truck, the top of the loading compartment 20 is openso that refuse can be elevated in containers 26 and dumped downwardlyinto the loading compartment 20. Of course, it will be appreciated thatin other refuse trucks embodying the invention, mechanisms other thanthe front loading mechanism 23 may be utilized for dumping refuse intothe loading compartment 20, or, in contrast, the side walls 33 of theloading compartment 20 may extend upwardly from the bottom 31 only ashort distance so that containers can be lifted by operators and dumpedover these walls into the loading compartment 20.

The partition wall 36 extends transversely across between the side walls33 and 34 and extends downwardly from the top of the loading compartment20 and body 21 to a level spaced above the floors 31 and 32 a distanceonly slightly greater than the accumulated vertical height of a ram,generally indicated by the reference number 37 and superposed slidingcovers 38 and 39 to be described below.

The storage body 21 has an open rear end which is closed by a door 40pivotally mounted at its upper end by cars 41, on the body 21 and heldclosed at its lower end by a latch 42. When it is desired to ejectrefuse from the body 21, the latch 42 is opened and hydraulic cylinders43 are actuated to swing the door 40 rearwardly and upwardly, asillustrated in dotted lines in FIG. 1.

The ram 37 has a vertical rear face 44 (see FIG. 6) which extends acrossthe truck between the side walls 33 and 34,'a solid top 45, and sides46. The rear of the ram 37 is open and a multi-stage hydraulic cylinder47 extends rearwardly into the interior of the ram 37. One end of thecylinder 47 is pivotally connected by a pin 48 mounted in a clevis 49 toa vertical structural element at the front of the body structure 30. Therear end of the cylinder 47 is similarly mounted on a pin 50 located ina nose 51 protruding rewardly from the face 44 of the ram 37. Themultiple stages of the cylinder 47 extend a sufficient distance toenable it to move the ram 37 from its foremost position, illustrated inFIG. 2, to its most reward position illustrated in FIG. 5. I

As illustrated in FIG. 2, when the cylinder 47 is collapsed completely,the ram 37 is positioned forwardly in the truck so that its rear face 44is aligned beneath the rear lower edge of a deflector plate 52,extending across the forward part of the loading compartment 20, andthus refuse can fall downwardly into the loading compartment 20 to aposition on the floor 31 rearwardly of the ram 37. Refuse is not shownin FIG. 2 but is generally shown in this position in FIG. 1.

From time to time during the loading of refuse into the loadingcompartment 20, controls for the hydraulic mechanisms are so actuated asto energize the ram cylinder 47 to move the ram from its most forwardposition (FIG. 2) to its packing position (FIG. 3), moving the ram 37through the bottom of the loading compartment 20 and extending its rearedge through the opening defined by the lower edge of the partition wall36, and the floor 31. This packing stroke may be a continuousreciprocation of the ram 37 between the positions illustrated in FIG. 2and 3 if refuse continuously is being dumped into the loadingcompartment 20, or it may be a single cycle operation as actuated by theoperator. When the ram 37 moves from its forward position of FIG. 2 toits first packing position of FIG. 3, the top 45 of the ram 37 functionsto provide a substitute bottom for the loading compartment 20 so as toprevent refuse in that compartment 20 from falling down in front of theram 37.

As briefly mentioned above, two sliding cover plates 38 and 39 areassociated with and actuated by the ram 37 when it is moved rearwardlyfrom the position illustrated in FIG. 3 to the intermediate compactingposition of FIG. 4 or to the rear most, ejecting position of FIG. 5. Thetwo covers 38 and 39 have rollers 53 at their ends which run in pairs ofhorizontal tracks 54 for the cover 39 and 55 for the cover 38. Thetracks 54 and 55 are mounted on the side walls 33 and 34 and extendhorizontally from the front structure 30 all the way to the rear of thebody 21. The tracks 54 and 55 are U- shaped channels of such size as toaccept the cover rollers 53.

A series of buttons 56 is erected along the front edge of the top 45 ofthe ram 37. The buttons 56 extend upwardly a distance sufficient so thatthey engage a cooperating rear lower cross bar 57 on the lower cover 38when the ram moves from the position shown in FIG. 2 beyond the positionshown in FIG. 3. As the ram 37 moves from the position shown in FIG. 3to the position shown in FIG. 4 or that shown in FIG. 5, the buttons 56engage the cross bar 57 and pull the cover 38 out from beneath thedeflector plate 52 and the structure 30.

An upper cross bar 58 (FIG. 9) on the cover 38 similarly engages a rearlower cross bar 59 on the cover 39 when the ram moves from the positionshown in FIG. 4 to the position shown in FIG. 5 in order to pull theupper cover 39 along with the lower cover 38. The top 45 of the ram 37,the lower cover 38 and the upper cover 39 thus form a substitute bottomfor the loading compartment 20 and for the storage body 21 as the ram 37moves rearwardly.

When the ram 37 is moved forwardly, either from the position shown inFIG. 4 or that in FIG. 5, each of the covers 39 and 38 remains in itsadvanced position until the ram buttons 56 engage a front lower bar 60on the cover 38 whereupon the movement of the ram toward the front ofthe truck slides the lower cover 38 along its track 55. Similarly whenthe lower cover 38 moves forwardly relative to the upper cover 39, theupper cover 39 remains stationary until the upper cross bar 58 on thelower cover 38 engages a front lower bar 61 on the upper cover 39. Asthe ram 37 continues to move toward the front of the truck, engagementof the upper cross bar 58 with the front lower bar 61 pushes the uppercover 39 along with the lower cover 38 until all are restored to theirfront position, nestled in superposed relationship beneath the structureand the deflector plate 52 as is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2.

I claim:

1. In a refuse truck having a storage body that is defined by a top,side walls and a floor, an openable door normally closing the rear ofsaid body and a loading compartment at the front of said body that isdefined by a front wall, side walls lying in the same vertical planes asthe side walls of said body, a floor that lies in the same plane as thefloor of said body and a rear wall that is common with said body andthat extends downwardly to a level above the said floors for defining anopening from said compartmentinto said body, the improvement comprising,in combination,

a. a ram having a rear end with a face of a width extending across saidcompartment and said body and a heighth slightly less than the heighthof the opening between said compartment and said body, said ram having atop extending forwardly from the upper edge of said rear face,

b. hydraulic cylinder means for moving said ram from a front positionforward of the floor of said loading compartment through the bottom ofsaid loading compartment for packing refuse from said loadingcompartment through the opening into said body and for moving said ramalong the bottom of said body for compacting refuse in said body whensaid door is closed and to a position adjacent the rear of said body forejecting refuse out of the rear of said body when said door is open,

c. a plurality of superposed, planar sliding covers associated with saidram, each of said covers extending across said truck to the sidewallsthereof, the total length of the top of said ram and the said coversbeing at least equal to the distance from the front wall of saidcompartment to the rear of said body, whereby said plates prevent refusein either said loading compartment or said body from falling down infront of said ram when said ram is extended from its front position,

d. a pair of horizontal tracks for each of said covers, said pairs oftracks extending from forward of the front wall of said compartmentthrough said opening into and to the rear of said body and being mountedon said side walls above each other; and

e. cooperating means at the front of said ram top and at the rear andfront edges of each of said covers for sequential engagement when saidram moves rearwardly beyond said loading compartment for sliding saidcovers along said tracks, the combined height of said ram face andthicknesses of said covers substantially equalling the height of theopening from said compartment into said body.

2. A refuse truck according to claim 1, having power actuated mechanismfor dumping refuse containers into the loading compartment.

3. A refuse truck according to claim 1 in which the horizontal tracksare opposed U-channels opening inwardly of the side walls of thecompartment and the covers have rollers at their sides which run in therespective ones of said channels.

4. A refuse truck according to claim 1 in which the cooperating means onthe ram and covers consist of downwardly extending projections at thefront and rear ends of each of said covers and an upwardly extendingprojection at the front end of said ram and at the front end of eachlower cover, each of said upwardly extending projections beingpositioned between and vertically overlapping the downwardly extendingprojections on one of said covers located there above.

1. In a refuse truck having a storage boDy that is defined by a top, side walls and a floor, an openable door normally closing the rear of said body and a loading compartment at the front of said body that is defined by a front wall, side walls lying in the same vertical planes as the side walls of said body, a floor that lies in the same plane as the floor of said body and a rear wall that is common with said body and that extends downwardly to a level above the said floors for defining an opening from said compartment into said body, the improvement comprising, in combination, a. a ram having a rear end with a face of a width extending across said compartment and said body and a heighth slightly less than the heighth of the opening between said compartment and said body, said ram having a top extending forwardly from the upper edge of said rear face, b. hydraulic cylinder means for moving said ram from a front position forward of the floor of said loading compartment through the bottom of said loading compartment for packing refuse from said loading compartment through the opening into said body and for moving said ram along the bottom of said body for compacting refuse in said body when said door is closed and to a position adjacent the rear of said body for ejecting refuse out of the rear of said body when said door is open, c. a plurality of superposed, planar sliding covers associated with said ram, each of said covers extending across said truck to the sidewalls thereof, the total length of the top of said ram and the said covers being at least equal to the distance from the front wall of said compartment to the rear of said body, whereby said plates prevent refuse in either said loading compartment or said body from falling down in front of said ram when said ram is extended from its front position, d. a pair of horizontal tracks for each of said covers, said pairs of tracks extending from forward of the front wall of said compartment through said opening into and to the rear of said body and being mounted on said side walls above each other; and e. cooperating means at the front of said ram top and at the rear and front edges of each of said covers for sequential engagement when said ram moves rearwardly beyond said loading compartment for sliding said covers along said tracks, the combined height of said ram face and thicknesses of said covers substantially equalling the height of the opening from said compartment into said body.
 2. A refuse truck according to claim 1, having power actuated mechanism for dumping refuse containers into the loading compartment.
 3. A refuse truck according to claim 1 in which the horizontal tracks are opposed U-channels opening inwardly of the side walls of the compartment and the covers have rollers at their sides which run in the respective ones of said channels.
 4. A refuse truck according to claim 1 in which the cooperating means on the ram and covers consist of downwardly extending projections at the front and rear ends of each of said covers and an upwardly extending projection at the front end of said ram and at the front end of each lower cover, each of said upwardly extending projections being positioned between and vertically overlapping the downwardly extending projections on one of said covers located there above. 